The handicapped parking posts have me remembering the evil witch I used to work with at Evil Oil Company and the tantrum she threw one afternoon.

The prime parking spaces at this location were assigned to carpoolers. EW had one of those spaces, although no one ever remembered her carpooling with anyone else from Marin. The spaces were reserved until 1 p.m., after which they were fair game. EW came storming into my office around 2:30 one day, demanding that I call Security and report someone in her parking spot. I did so, and Security told me to tell her it's after 1 p.m., them's the breaks. She went ballistic. She went up the food chain to the head of Security, who upon investigation, discovered that she wasn't and never had been a carpool, so she lost the spot permanently.

A few weeks later, I was called into my supervisor's office. Somehow, it was my fault she had lost her spot, because I wasn't emphatic enough in my initial phone call to Security.

Her religion isn't necessary or relevant to your story.

Huh? I've re-read her post three times. Where does she mention religion??

I think the implication is that 'Evil Witch' is pagan. I didn't get that at all from the post - I heard it as 'Evil Rhymes-With-Witch'.

A Very Interesting Assumption.

Ah. Thank you. Yep, very.

No, she wasn't assuming that the person referenced was actually Wiccan. She was pointing out that using "witch" as a generic insult is offensive to those who practice that religion.

Thank you Bexx I had thought 'witch' being used pejoratively on this forum had been thoroughly stamped out by the mods years ago.

I didn't make any 'interesting assumptions' it's right there in the post.

It is my understanding that Ehelldame has said that the use of the word "witch" to mean a vile woman is so ingrained in our vernacular, that is acceptable to use it.

I want to nominate one of my tenants, the parking thread reminded me of her.

Last summer, SS came down demanding that a car be moved and wanting to know why I allowed them to park in a disabled space without a placard. All of our parking is monthly paid assigned parking. Tenant was parked in her assigned space but had forgotten to put her hang tag in her window.I assured SS that she is permitted to be there but that was not good enough. She called parking enforcement to come out and ticket the car. I was able to show the officer that the tenant did have a placard (it is listed on her paperwork that we have in her file). Reason I call SS for this, SS does not drive and does not have a car. There is no parking for visitors in this lot so there is no reason for her to need/want this spot and the tenant normally has her placard in the window and SS stated that she knows that she has one.

Same SS, Across the parking lot is a community center that has a computer lab. The lab is staffed by volunteers and is only open certain hours which are clearly posted all over the place including on the lab door. SS went over outside of the open lab time and started screaming at the volunteer at the front desk because it was not open and she wanted to check her mail. She started lecturing them about how the lab should be open 24 hours a day in case someone wants to use it, never mind that there is no budget for it.

The handicapped parking posts have me remembering the evil witch I used to work with at Evil Oil Company and the tantrum she threw one afternoon.

The prime parking spaces at this location were assigned to carpoolers. EW had one of those spaces, although no one ever remembered her carpooling with anyone else from Marin. The spaces were reserved until 1 p.m., after which they were fair game. EW came storming into my office around 2:30 one day, demanding that I call Security and report someone in her parking spot. I did so, and Security told me to tell her it's after 1 p.m., them's the breaks. She went ballistic. She went up the food chain to the head of Security, who upon investigation, discovered that she wasn't and never had been a carpool, so she lost the spot permanently.

A few weeks later, I was called into my supervisor's office. Somehow, it was my fault she had lost her spot, because I wasn't emphatic enough in my initial phone call to Security.

Her religion isn't necessary or relevant to your story.

Huh? I've re-read her post three times. Where does she mention religion??

I think the implication is that 'Evil Witch' is pagan. I didn't get that at all from the post - I heard it as 'Evil Rhymes-With-Witch'.

A Very Interesting Assumption.

Ah. Thank you. Yep, very.

No, she wasn't assuming that the person referenced was actually Wiccan. She was pointing out that using "witch" as a generic insult is offensive to those who practice that religion.

Thank you Bexx I had thought 'witch' being used pejoratively on this forum had been thoroughly stamped out by the mods years ago.

I didn't make any 'interesting assumptions' it's right there in the post.

Speaking as someone who is Wiccan, and refers to herself as a witch (as does every Wiccan I've ever met), this is the something that quietly irks me and makes me just skip over the entire post.

It's just as offensive to me as someone saying all members of X religion are Y.

Yet another SS from my store's FB page: BG: customer bought a pair of shoes at one of our clearance outlets. which has off season merchandise, and is final sale. Says she realizes they are final sale, but there are exceptions to every rule. Which, as someone who works in retail, gets under my skin a bit. She goes to wear the shoes and realizes she has two right shoes. Ok, I can understand an exception being made to take them back, but she took them back to the closer, regular store, not the outlet, and was quite put out when she was told she would have to drive the 25 miles to the outlet to return them. Sorry, but regular stores (and I work in one) cannot take back any outlet merchandise, and vice versa. Furthermore, how is it she didnít notice this when she purchased them? Some blame lies there, esp being a clearance center and final sale. I felt she was a bit SS by saying it was the storeís problem and therefore they should fix it, even if she was being a tad unreasonable.

I think the store gets most of the blame for this one. The cashier should have checked and made sure the shoes were mates. I'd be mad, too, if I were told I had to drive that far to fix the store's mistake. I think the regular store should have made it right for the customer.

I buy things at the Aeropostale outlet for my daughter all the time. And if I need to return something for whatever reason, I can go to the regular store at the mall to do so. That's good business.

As someone who worked in the shoe department of a store for far too long, I would have to also place some blame on the store. I was trained to ALWAYS check to make sure the shoes were mates and that they had a right and a left and in the same color (black and navy can look very similar under the wrong light).

The handicapped parking posts have me remembering the evil witch I used to work with at Evil Oil Company and the tantrum she threw one afternoon.

The prime parking spaces at this location were assigned to carpoolers. EW had one of those spaces, although no one ever remembered her carpooling with anyone else from Marin. The spaces were reserved until 1 p.m., after which they were fair game. EW came storming into my office around 2:30 one day, demanding that I call Security and report someone in her parking spot. I did so, and Security told me to tell her it's after 1 p.m., them's the breaks. She went ballistic. She went up the food chain to the head of Security, who upon investigation, discovered that she wasn't and never had been a carpool, so she lost the spot permanently.

A few weeks later, I was called into my supervisor's office. Somehow, it was my fault she had lost her spot, because I wasn't emphatic enough in my initial phone call to Security.

Her religion isn't necessary or relevant to your story.

Huh? I've re-read her post three times. Where does she mention religion??

I think the implication is that 'Evil Witch' is pagan. I didn't get that at all from the post - I heard it as 'Evil Rhymes-With-Witch'.

A Very Interesting Assumption.

Ah. Thank you. Yep, very.

No, she wasn't assuming that the person referenced was actually Wiccan. She was pointing out that using "witch" as a generic insult is offensive to those who practice that religion.

Thank you Bexx I had thought 'witch' being used pejoratively on this forum had been thoroughly stamped out by the mods years ago.

I didn't make any 'interesting assumptions' it's right there in the post.

Speaking as someone who is Wiccan, and refers to herself as a witch (as does every Wiccan I've ever met), this is the something that quietly irks me and makes me just skip over the entire post.

It's just as offensive to me as someone saying all members of X religion are Y.

Serious question that I fully admit sounds facetious:

What is the solution for discussing the villain in The Wizard of Oz? Or various other fictional villains that have been called "witches"?

The handicapped parking posts have me remembering the evil witch I used to work with at Evil Oil Company and the tantrum she threw one afternoon.

The prime parking spaces at this location were assigned to carpoolers. EW had one of those spaces, although no one ever remembered her carpooling with anyone else from Marin. The spaces were reserved until 1 p.m., after which they were fair game. EW came storming into my office around 2:30 one day, demanding that I call Security and report someone in her parking spot. I did so, and Security told me to tell her it's after 1 p.m., them's the breaks. She went ballistic. She went up the food chain to the head of Security, who upon investigation, discovered that she wasn't and never had been a carpool, so she lost the spot permanently.

A few weeks later, I was called into my supervisor's office. Somehow, it was my fault she had lost her spot, because I wasn't emphatic enough in my initial phone call to Security.

Her religion isn't necessary or relevant to your story.

Huh? I've re-read her post three times. Where does she mention religion??

I think the implication is that 'Evil Witch' is pagan. I didn't get that at all from the post - I heard it as 'Evil Rhymes-With-Witch'.

A Very Interesting Assumption.

Ah. Thank you. Yep, very.

No, she wasn't assuming that the person referenced was actually Wiccan. She was pointing out that using "witch" as a generic insult is offensive to those who practice that religion.

Thank you Bexx I had thought 'witch' being used pejoratively on this forum had been thoroughly stamped out by the mods years ago.

I didn't make any 'interesting assumptions' it's right there in the post.

Speaking as someone who is Wiccan, and refers to herself as a witch (as does every Wiccan I've ever met), this is the something that quietly irks me and makes me just skip over the entire post.

It's just as offensive to me as someone saying all members of X religion are Y.

Serious question that I fully admit sounds facetious:

What is the solution for discussing the villain in The Wizard of Oz? Or various other fictional villains that have been called "witches"?

Those to me ARE witches, albeit evil ones. They typically cast spells and practice magic.

There are such things as good and evil witches. Like the good witch in the Wizard of OZ.

Someone acting a tool, that does not practice Wiccan or any other religion that entails the use of magick or spell casting, is not a witch. They are just an awful/not nice person person.

Just FYI, I have asked the mods to please weigh in on this issue, and hopefully one will soon. I'm not saying don't start another thread or go to the "file under miscellaneous" thread if you would like, that's entirely up to you, but I wanted to let you all know that hopefully we'll be getting a word from a mod soon and it will most likely be in this thread.

2 coworkers got called in to the principal's office for using up their sick and personal leave days.

Coworker 1 has some health problems but also considers her sick and personal leave days part of her wages and uses them up every year. Remember we are teachers so we have multiple built in vacation days. Every year she uses up all her days with stuff like Motorcycle ralleys then gets sick when the oak trees try to choke us all to death and has no days. She explained she is having emotional issues because of an attack that happened several years ago. Principal told her that she needed to apply to HR for FMLA. Well she decided to take a mental health day last week. Here is the SS part - she never filled out any of the paper work just keyed in FMLA to the system and bragged how now Principal can't touch her.

2nd person explained that she was sorry but she had 3 kids and they had been sick. In particular her oldest has balance/mobility problems but they have never recieved a firm diagnoses. He had to have several procedures that required he go to Texas Children's including one overnight stay. Principal told her sorry but you can't take off any more days. I told her to get the paper work for FMLA. She asked him about it - and he told her that she wasn't eligable. I checked with Sis (part of her job is helping people with this) - who hit the roof and called my boss several names. A child with a chronic condition and friend has worked for the district for over a decade. Friend is going to HR to get the FMLA in place so she and her DH (also long term district employee) can use it when appropriate. I told her to file a complaint or at least make sure they know he told her she wasn't eligable.

I think Principal deserves an SS award for giving her bad information instead of referring her to HR - Especially because he just came off of FMLA. Part of me wonders if he knows she is one of 15 teachers that filed a complaint through FFRF about his bible quote diatribes demanding we pray over them (we are public school). He got smacked down hard for that one.

I feel for your friend. Please help her get her paperwork in order. I have been getting guff from my principal about my absences (teacher also) but I still have sick days banked even after the ones I've had to take. I'm pretty sure that this (unofficially) tied into the choice to add me to the layoff pool (almost 1200 teachers so far).